The Weekend Box Office: ‘The Avengers’ Edition

Let’s face it. You already know that The Avengers was tops in this weekend’s box office results. You’ve already seen the movie, maybe even more than once in the last few days, and yes, the movie was no less than amazing. But while most people expected The Avengers to make a huge debut, few could have anticipated that the film would smash all-time weekend records, which is exactly what Iron Man and his superhuman friends managed to do this past weekend.

The Avengers made about $80 million on Friday alone, which ranked second all-time behind 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; however, the superhero team-up set records for Saturday and Sunday, with $70 million and $50.1 million respectively. Also, according to Box Office Mojo, the film was the fastest movie to reach $100 million, $150 million, and $200 million. The film is on track to become the highest grossing film of all-time and easily on its way to toppling 2008’s The Dark Knight as the most successful superhero movie of all-time.

Hit the jump for a full rundown of this weekend’s box office results.

In just over three days, The Avengers has already made more than Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk have in their entire theatrical runs and will undoubtedly pass both of the Iron Man films in the coming week.

The Avengers was the first of the movies made under the Marvel banner to be marketed by Disney, who purchased the Marvel brand in 2009. In addition to Disney’s huge marketing push, seeds for the film’s success were planted in 2008, when Nick Fury introduced the idea of the superhero team in a cameo in Iron Man. Since then, Marvel has used each of its films to hype up and ready viewers for this summer’s blockbuster. It also doesn’t hurt that the film is extremely well made, with director Joss Whedon crafting one of the funnest summer blockbusters to date. The film currently has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 96% audience approval rating.

With the release of The Avengers, no other large studio film dared debut this past weekend, so the results outside of the top spot remain largely the same. Last week’s number one film, Sony/Screen Gems’ Think Like a Man, dropped over 50 percent, finishing this past weekend with just over $8 million. Last week’s number two film The Pirates! Band of Misfits, another film from Sony Pictures, finished in fifth place this week with $5.4 million.

Former box office juggernaut The Hunger Games finished in third place with $5.7 million. The Hunger Games earlier this year had the formerly third (now fourth) largest weekend debut of all-time. In its seventh week, the film has made $380 million domestically and $617 million worldwide.

In comparison, The Avengers has made $641 million worldwide through about under two weeks in large foreign markets and three days in the United States. Interestingly enough, the film has yet to release in Japan, which is the last remaining large market for The Avengers. The film is set to debut in Japan sometime in August.

With only the Tim Burton directed Dark Shadows (starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer) releasing next weekend, look for The Avengers to continue to dominate the box office for weeks to come.